Much Better Cardio

A Much Better Way to Do REALY Cardio-See HERE

Hard Yards

“How difficult can it be?” I wondered before I did my first workout with Ultimate Sandbags. The answer is very, I found out shortly. That was 2009, at a certification course in Philadelphia, and since then, I’ve incorporated DVRT both in my own training, and with clients (who gravitate toward it any time it’s an option).

Below is a circuit I put together for one of my female clients, who plays football. She asked to level up her conditioning, and we set about it. This was one of her favorites.

Name: The Fullback

Suggested Equipment: An Ultimate Sandbag

Instructions: Do three rounds of 45 seconds on, 30 seconds off. (Note: I follow strength coach Robert dos Remedios’s lead on negative rest time, and that is to use it sparingly, and only once you’ve got a solid base of fitness in place. Feel free to rest a little longer between drills, if needed.) Rest two minutes at the bottom of each round.

Allotted Time: Less than 20 minutes

Exercises:

Up-and-Backs

Ultimate Sandbag Rotational Lunge

Hand-Release Pushup

Ultimate Sandbag Clean

Up-and-Backs

Place two cones approximately five yards apart from one another.

Starting from a crouched position at one end, sprint as hard as you can to the other cone.

Lower your hips, keeping your chest up, and explode into a backpedal to return to the first cone.

Repeat sprinting and backpedalling between the cones, always facing the same direction for the desired number of repetitions or time interval.

Ultimate Sandbag Rotational Lunge

To start, stand tall while holding the Ultimate Sandbag’s top handles.

On the first lunge, take a large step backward and lower your hips, simultaneously bringing the sandbag over your front leg’s knee and rotating at the chest.

Return to standing by “pulling” your body up with your front leg, driving through your heel.

Forcefully swing the Ultimate Sandbag up and in front of you. Use the momentum for the lunge to float the sandbag up like a kettlebell swing.

From the top position, lunge backward with the other leg and bring the sandbag to your other side.

Repeat for the desired number repetitions, always alternating the lunge-rotation pattern.

Hand-Release Pushup

Start in a straight-arm plank position, facing downward with your body elevated between your hands and toes.

Line up your hands directly under your shoulders, just wider than your rib cage.

With a stiff core and squeezed glutes, lower your body completely down to the floor in control, angling your elbows out to no more than 45 degrees.

At the bottom position, raise your hands up off the floor by lightly squeezing your shoulder blades together. Keep your core stiff and glutes squeezed together.

Push back up in one fluid motion without letting your low back sag. Your chest and thighs should come off the floor at the same time.

Ultimate Sandbag Clean

To start, prop the sandbag on your feet, gripping the top handles, knees bent in an athletic stance.

Take the slack out of the handles by raising your starting point for the clean.

Quickly extend your hips, using the power of your hips, hamstrings and glutes to launch the Ultimate Sandbag upward.

Keeping the Ultimate Sandbag close to your body, let the sandbag roll up and quickly fire your elbows forward underneath it.

In the catch position, the Ultimate Sandbag will rest in your upper arms and against your chest.

Return to the starting position by allowing the Ultimate Sandbag to unroll itself down and out of your arms. Repeat.

Get Better Faster

If you’re looking to amp up your conditioning in other creative but productive ways, I’ve put together a mammoth 130-workout pick-and-choose library called Lift Weights Faster. Complete with a full exercise glossary that includes written descriptions and photographic demonstrations of over 225 exercises (from classic moves to more unusual ones — the Jefferson deadlift, anyone?), a limited video library that includes coaching on 14 of the more technical lifts, five challenge-workout videos, plus a dynamic warm-up routine, I leveraged my background in magazine publishing to create a clear-cut, easy-to-use resource that you’ll want to turn to all the time.

Every workout is organized by the equipment you have available and how much time you’ve got, with options that last anywhere from five up to 30 minutes.

Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention I teamed up with two-time New York Times bestselling author Diane Sanfilippo to create a wonderful companion resource called Eat Better Faster on eating healthy, whole foods, even when you’re pinched for time.

For more info, click HERE.   

Jen Sinkler (www.jensinkler.com), RKC, PCC, PM, USAW, is a longtime fitness journalist who writes for national magazines such as Women’s Health and Men’s Health. A former member of the U.S. national women’s rugby team, she currently trains clients at The Movement Minneapolis.

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